Academic Calendar 2023-2024

Religious Studies (RELS)

RELS 131  World Religions/Religious Worlds  Units: 6.00  

Introduces religion in India, China and Japan; also the movements of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Humanism.
NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.

Learning Hours: 228 (48 Lecture, 24 Tutorial, 156 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite None.  
Course Equivalencies: RELS131; RELS131B  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 137  Religion and Film  Units: 3.00  

This course will explore how religion is portrayed in film, noting particularly the depiction of religious belief, practices, practitioners, and institutions, and the use of religious symbols and metaphors.

Learning Hours: 120 (24 Lecture, 12 Tutorial, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite None. Equivalency RELS 237.  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 140  Religion and Science  Units: 3.00  

This course examines the categories of both science and religion and attempts to explore the possible relationships between them. Case studies involve: medicine and health, relationships with other animals, concepts of human nature, super/natural ontologies, and science-and-technology-based religions.

Learning Hours: 120 (24 Lecture, 12 Tutorial, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite None.  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 161  Contemporary Problems in Religion and Culture  Units: 6.00  

Explores religious issues in culture, literature, politics and social ethics.

Learning Hours: 228 (48 Lecture, 24 Tutorial, 156 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite None.  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 162  Religion, News and Media  Units: 3.00  

This course will identify and describe characteristics of religion as they appear in news reports of social, political, and economic aspects of public life and analyze how the news presents, shapes, and creates perceptions of religion in public discourse.

Learning Hours: 120 (24 Lecture, 12 Tutorial, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite None.  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 163  Popular Culture and Religion  Units: 3.00  

This course will identify and describe characteristics of religion as they appear in popular culture (e.g. fashion; comics; movies; art; music; novels; sitcoms; dramas; video games) and analyze how such depictions present, shape, and create perceptions of religion in public discourse.

Learning Hours: 120 (24 Lecture, 12 Tutorial, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite None.  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 200  Religion and Global Development  Units: 3.00  

This course will examine the vital role that different religious ideas and groups play in major development organizations and initiatives. Students will look at how religious ideas and groups have influenced issues around global poverty, pandemics, child welfare, economics and debt relief, education, etc.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 9 Group Learning, 75 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite Level 2 or above and 6.0 units in RELS at the 100-level.  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 201  Topics in Religious Studies l  Units: 3.00  

A topic of current interest in Religious Studies not covered in other available courses.
NOTE This course is repeatable for credit under different topic titles.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 202  Traditions in Religious Studies  Units: 3.00  

A topic of current interest in Religious Studies not covered in other available courses.
NOTE This course is repeatable for credit under different topic titles.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 205  Religion Meets Empire: Global Perspectives  Units: 3.00  

Religion and other belief systems played a crucial role in governing empires, ranging from homogenization to accepting diversity - and even to both approaches or strategies in the same empire. The course critically assesses constructions of "religion" as a category and concerning inequality and diversity in global history.
NOTE Also offered online, consult Arts and Science Online (Learning Hours may vary).

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 9 Group Learning, 75 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite None.  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 206  Drugs and Religion  Units: 3.00  

This course explores the role of mind/body-altering substances in religions; as things claimed to be of spiritual significance; and as the objects of a fervor (today's "psychedelic renaissance") that we religion scholars can analyze as a new religious movement. It attends to western appropriation of plants and fungi sacred to Indigenous peoples.

Learning Hours: 120 (24 Lecture, 12 Group Learning, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 207  Religion, Hate, and Xenophobia  Units: 3.00  

This course will examine the history of islamophobia, the history of antisemitism, and other kinds of xenophobia related to religion and religious communities around the world. Students will become closely acquainted with the origins of these ideas, how they were articulated in the past, and the ways in which they play out in the contemporary world.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 9 Group Learning, 75 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 209  Radical Jews  Units: 3.00  

This course examines the life and work of Jewish radical thinkers: analysts, anarchists, communists, feminists, environmentalists, and anti-nationalists. We will be interested both in the ways they created difficulties for dominant cultural and political institutions, and traditional Jewish authorities.

Learning Hours: 126 (12 Lecture, 12 Tutorial, 12 Online Activity, 90 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite Level 2 or above and 6.0 units in RELS at the 100-level.  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 210  Hebrew Bible  Units: 3.00  

Introduction in the light of the political, cultural, and religious history of ancient Israel and Judah.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 212  Mythology of the Ancient Near East  Units: 3.00  

Similarities and differences in the myths of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia will be explored on the basis of material remains (e.g., the pyramids and temple architecture) and texts.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 214  Origins of Christianity  Units: 3.00  

How did Christianity begin? This course will examine early Christian writings, including the New Testament, to explore how a small sectarian group grew to gain acceptance in the Roman empire.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 218  Christianity  Units: 3.00  

Introduction to Christianity as a religious tradition through its texts, its history and its contemporary forms.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 221  New Religious Movements  Units: 3.00  

All religions were once new, small, and unusual to the cultures around them - often therefore attracting suspicion. This course examines the practices, beliefs, and histories of several NRMs, and why some gain legitimacy while others get derided as "cults." Doing so illuminates broader processes like mythmaking, Othering, and (de)secularization.

Learning Hours: 126 (24 Lecture, 12 Group Learning, 6 Online Activity, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 222  The Hindu World  Units: 3.00  

Developments through 3,000 years of Indian history; the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, Yoga and Vedanta, mythology of Vishnu and Shiva, and recent Hindu thinkers (e.g., Tagore, Aurobindo).

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 223  Buddhism  Units: 3.00  

Buddhism in India, the life and teaching of Gautama the Buddha, and the growth of the Theravadin and Mahayanist traditions.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 224  Taoism  Units: 3.00  

The philosophy, worldview, spirituality and ethics of Taoism, China's organized indigenous religion, in Chinese history and in the contemporary world.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 226  Islam  Units: 3.00  

Historical and topical survey of Islam, its development through the study of its rise, institutionalization of its beliefs and practices, formation of its theology, law, mysticism; as well as its modern interpretations and practices.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 227  Indigenous Religious Traditions  Units: 3.00  

Introduction to the study of the Indigenous religious experience in Canada and abroad.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 228  Sages, Scholars and Rabbis  Units: 3.00  

The religious institutions produced by the Jews from the second to the seventh centuries. This course will explore in critical fashion the principal areas of rabbinic activity including: topics on jurisprudence, philosophy, social and political thinking, the role of tradition and scriptures.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 229  Confucianism  Units: 3.00  

The philosophy, worldview, spirituality and ethics of Confucianism in its classical, modern and contemporary forms.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 232  Religion and Social Movements  Units: 3.00  

This course will examine the field of social movements studies, with a particular focus on how religion has played a role in the rise of social movements, how religious communities have been influenced by social movements, and how mobilization and activism around social justice issues is coloured by religion and culture.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 9 Group Learning, 75 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 234  Judaism  Units: 3.00  

An introduction to the self-definition of Judaism through an analysis of the concepts of God, Torah and Israel past and present. Also, a preliminary study of the struggles facing Jews in Europe, the State of Israel and North America.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 235  Religion and Environment  Units: 3.00  

Examines how religious traditions shape human values and behaviours towards the environment and how environmental problems are shaping the evolution of religious and spiritual traditions.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 236  Religion and Sex  Units: 3.00  

Views of and attitudes toward sexuality in selected world religions; the place of sexuality in religious traditions; relationship between sex and the sacred; specific topics such as marriage, gay and lesbian issues, contraception will be chosen.

Learning Hours: 126 (36 Lecture, 12 Group Learning, 6 Online Activity, 72 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 239  Sport and Religion  Units: 3.00  

This course will provide an overview of the relatively new and expanding body of research that examines the relationship between sport, spirituality and religion. Topics including play, games, flow, ritual, prayer, sports stars as role models, doping, fandom and miracles in sport will be explored.

Learning Hours: 129 (36 Lecture, 93 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 240  Magic, Witchcraft, and the Supernatural  Units: 3.00  

Studies the differences between the categories of religion, magic, witchcraft, the supernatural, etc., as constructed in scholarship, popular culture, and practice. Focuses on examples such as New Religious Movements, depictions of magic in film and TV, and moral panics over alleged occult practices, and the histories that let us make sense of them.

Learning Hours: 120 (24 Lecture, 6 Group Learning, 12 Online Activity, 78 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 242  Objects in Global Indigenous Spirituality  Units: 3.00  

The course addresses the sacred or profane status of objects in Indigenous cosmologies. What they are, mean, and do, and how Indigenous persons position themselves in relation to them. This leads to reflections on the object/subject division, the condition of materiality and immateriality, and the resulting nature of spirits in Indigenous worlds.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 250  Mythology of Heroes  Units: 3.00  

Examines how hero stories are formed, transmitted, and function using a variety of source materials from ancient writings through to contemporary cultural expressions.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 252  Mysticism  Units: 3.00  

The academic study of mysticism; mystical movements; and mystics.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 255  Research and Writing in Religious Studies  Units: 3.00  

An investigation into the techniques of critical reading and writing for research in Religious Studies.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Seminar, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite Level 2 or above or (6.0 units in RELS at the 100-level). Equivalency RELS 355.  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 257  Indigenous Sages and Wisdoms  Units: 3.00  

Following the specific roles usually associated with the category "shamanism", this course examines empirical accounts on the knowledges and practices of various types of spiritual specialists, such as sages, healers, diviners, priests, sorcerers, and mediums in Indigenous traditions in Canada and various regions of the world.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 266  Religion and Social Ethics  Units: 3.00  

Moral problems and religious responses: e.g., sexual morality; violence; civil disobedience.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 296  Islam in Canada  Units: 3.00  

This course examines the historical and contemporary expressions of Islam in Canada. Starting from early Muslim migrants to Canada to current issues of media representations, Islamophobia, and gender and sexuality, as they are unfolding in Canadian contexts for Muslims.

Learning Hours: 138 (18 Lecture, 18 Seminar, 12 Group Learning, 90 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 2 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 301  Themes in Religious Studies  Units: 3.00  

A topic of current interest in Religious Studies not covered in other available courses.
NOTE This course is repeatable for credit under different topic titles.

Learning Hours: 132 (36 Lecture, 96 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 302  Traditions in Religious Studies  Units: 3.00  

A topic of current interest in Religious Studies not covered in other available courses.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 312  Feminist Theology and Christianity  Units: 3.00  

An examination of some of the issues raised by the feminist critique of traditional theology and of some feminist attempts at theological reconstruction. In this course we will look at feminist theologies and Christianity.

Learning Hours: 132 (36 Lecture, 96 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 314  Queering Religion  Units: 3.00  

This course examines the complex intersection of gender, sexuality and religion and the ways in which religious traditions have shaped and continue to shape complex notions of gender and sexuality in the modern era. It considers a review of feminist, gender studies and queer theories, thereafter we will apply these concepts to case studies.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 321  Greek and Roman Religions  Units: 3.00  

A study of the development and organization of non-civic religious associations in the Greek and Roman empires using inscriptions, papyri, and literary texts. Insight into religious practices of the Greco-Roman period comes through exploration of groups organized by deity, cult, occupation, or ethnic identity, and the so-called mystery religions.

Learning Hours: 132 (36 Lecture, 96 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 322  Yoga in India and the West  Units: 3.00  

Surveys the history and philosophy of yoga in India and the West.
NOTE Yoga Practicum: estimated cost $90.

Learning Hours: 128 (36 Lecture, 8 Off-Campus Activity, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 326  Religion and Politics in Muslim Societies  Units: 3.00  

Explores the role of religion in the politics of Muslim societies with particular attention to the modern period.

Learning Hours: 132 (36 Lecture, 96 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 328  Apocalypse  Units: 3.00  

The primary focus of the course will be the theological perspectives and social functions of apocalypse in select religious traditions. The course will also survey the appropriation of apocalyptic themes throughout history in artistic forms such as art, fiction, and film, with particular attention to our modern times and cultures.

Learning Hours: 132 (36 Lecture, 96 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 331  Religion and Violence  Units: 3.00  

Links between violence and religious beliefs, practices and institutions; for example, sacrifice, holy wars, scapegoating, and suicide.

Learning Hours: 132 (36 Lecture, 96 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 332  Race, Ethnicity, and Religion  Units: 3.00  

The course will explore the intersection of race, ethnicity, and religion, alongside gender, sexuality, culture and more. It will challenge students to think about how racial identities, theories, and movements implicate(d) the way religious communities construct their own systems and worldviews.

Learning Hours: 128 (18 Lecture, 18 Seminar, 12 Group Learning, 80 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 334  Jewish Views of the Other  Units: 3.00  

A study of the tensions that come into play as Jews formulated views of the Other to balance co-existence with them. Source materials include authoritative writings of Jewish commentary and law and social scientific views of them.

Learning Hours: 132 (36 Lecture, 96 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 340  Religion and Democracy  Units: 3.00  

Deals with the role of religion in the public sphere and its relation to liberal democracy. It examines the (in)compatibility of some tenets of certain religions with modern democratic principles.

Learning Hours: 132 (36 Lecture, 96 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 341  Spirituality, Secularity, and Nonreligion  Units: 3.00  

A study of concepts intended to summarize positions which are necessarily defined in reference to religion but considered to be other than religious. We explore the origins and presents of perspectives and experiences including the secular, spiritual-but-not-religious, atheistic, and other forms of imitation, indifference, and hostility to religion.

Learning Hours: 126 (24 Lecture, 6 Group Learning, 12 Online Activity, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 342  Indigeneity and Nature  Units: 3.00  

The seminar deals with the knowledges and practices through which Indigenous peoples conceptualize and approach what the West calls "Nature". Applying their underlying principles, we further analyze contemporary initiatives to promote interspeciesism, and to grant rights to Nature and legal personhood to different elements of the environment.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Seminar, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 345  Religion and Art  Units: 3.00  

An examination of discursive, historiographical, and affective aspects of a variety of historical and contemporary artistic expressions (e.g., painting, sculpture, video) through the lens of Religious Studies.
NOTE Field Trip (National Gallery of Ottawa): estimated cost $55.

Learning Hours: 126 (12 Lecture, 24 Group Learning, 90 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 346  AI, Biohacking, and Future Technology  Units: 3.00  

This course looks at issues raised by the intersection of religion and human enhancement technologies. We will consider categories of biohacking, AI, and possible future technologies including mind uploading. Engaging diverse religious issues, we will consider what it means to be human and "better".

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Seminar, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 347  Gender and Sexuality in Islam  Units: 3.00  

This course explores conversations regarding women, gender, and sexuality in Islam from classical to the modern period. This is a survey course that utilizes gender and religious studies theories. We will engage with textual traditions of Muslim women and contemporary treatment of women and queer Muslims in Muslim societies.

Learning Hours: 120 (24 Seminar, 12 Group Learning, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 354  Theory in Religious Studies  Units: 3.00  

An introduction to major theoretical approaches to the study of religion.

Learning Hours: 132 (36 Lecture, 96 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite Level 3 or above and 6.0 units in RELS at the 200-level. Exclusion A maximum of 6.0 units from RELS 353; RELS 354; RELS 355.  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 367  Medicine, Ethics, and Religion  Units: 3.00  

The aim of this course is to provide an overview of some ethical issues that arise at the intersection of biomedicine and religion. These ethical issues include moral distress, consent, beginning of life issues, indigeneity and healing, medically assisted death, gene editing, and anti-aging interventions.

Learning Hours: 120 (18 Lecture, 18 Seminar, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite Level 3 or above or (6.0 units in RELS at the 100-level). Equivalency RELS 268.  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 368  Religion and Business Ethics  Units: 3.00  

Students will develop background knowledge and analytic skills necessary to identify and negotiate religious commitments in business relationships and resolve ethical issues around the role of religion in business contexts. We will analyze case studies to explore various ways in which business practitioners can and do address questions arising in everyday interactions in the business world.

Learning Hours: 132 (36 Lecture, 96 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 385  Religious Fundamentalisms  Units: 3.00  

Religious fundamentalism is a modern phenomenon not exclusive to any religion. In the past few decades, religious fundamentalist movements have been shaping new social, cultural and political norms in a predominately secular age. The course explores theoretical aspects and examines specific case studies across various religions and cultures.

Learning Hours: 126 (36 Lecture, 20 Online Activity, 70 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 393  Buddhism in the Modern World  Units: 3.00  

Encounter between Buddhism and the West, major movements and thinkers, and socio-politically engaged Buddhism.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 394  Religion and Politics in Contemporary China  Units: 3.00  

Examines Chinese and foreign religions in mainland China from 1949 to the present day. Topics include the status of established religions, the political control of new religious movements and the resurgence of traditional Chinese religions and ideologies including Daoism and Confucianism.

Learning Hours: 132 (36 Lecture, 96 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 396  Islam in the Modern World  Units: 3.00  

Exploration of Islamic developments since the 19th century: major thinkers, trends of thought, and contemporary movements as responses to modernity.

Learning Hours: 132 (36 Lecture, 96 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 398  Jewish Cultural and Political Thought  Units: 3.00  

The development of modern Jewish thought and practice, including the Reform, Orthodox, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements. The consequences of the Holocaust and the establishment of the modern State of Israel.

Learning Hours: 132 (36 Lecture, 96 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite (Level 3 or above) or (6.0 units of RELS at the 100-level).  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 401  Honours Seminar  Units: 3.00  

Advanced seminar providing detailed reading of one contemporary theme or thinker in religious studies.

Learning Hours: 120 (6 Lecture, 30 Seminar, 12 Online Activity, 72 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite Level 4 or above and registration in a (RELS Major or Medial Plan) and a (minimum GPA of 2.60 in 24.0 units in RELS). Corequisite (RELS 354 and [RELS 255 or RELS 355]) or RELS 353.  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 452  The Contemporary Religious Situation  Units: 3.00  

Religion in modernity; traditional groups, newer religious movements, contemporary ideologies and social trends of religious significance.

Learning Hours: 120 (36 Lecture, 84 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite Level 3 or above and registration in a (RELS Major or Medial Plan). Corequisite (RELS 354 and [RELS 255 or RELS 355]) or RELS 353. Exclusion RELS 451.  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 501  Directed Special Studies I  Units: 3.00  

Reading courses on topics not covered in other available courses, arranged with individual members of the Department.

Learning Hours: 120 (12 Individual Instruction, 108 Private Study)  
Requirements: Prerequisite Level 4 or above and registration in the RELS Major Plan and permission of the Department.  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 502  Directed Special Studies II  Units: 3.00  

Reading courses on topics not covered in other available courses, arranged with individual members of the Department.
NOTE RELS 502/3.0 may be taken independently or as a continuation of RELS 501/3.0.

Requirements: Prerequisite Level 4 or above and registration in the RELS Major Plan and permission of the Department.  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science  
RELS 594  Independent Study  Units: 3.00  

Exceptionally qualified students entering their third- or fourth-year may take a program of independent study provided it has been approved by the Department or Departments principally involved. The Department may approve an independent study program without permitting it to be counted toward a concentration in that Department. It is, consequently, the responsibility of students taking such programs to ensure that the concentration requirements for their degree will be met.
NOTE Requests for such a program must be received one month before the start of the first term in which the student intends to undertake the program.

Requirements: Prerequisite Permission of the Department or Departments principally involved.  
Offering Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Science